Libyan Elections in 8 Months

Rebel leaders say Libya will hold elections in eight months and Muammar Qaddafi will given a fair trial - if he's taken alive.

Gabe Kahn., 24/08/11 19:37

Mustafa Abdel Jalil

WikimediaCommons

Libya will hold elections in eight months and Muammar Qaddafi will be tried in the country, opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said in comments published today.

"In eight months we will hold legislative and presidential elections. We want a democratic government and a just constitution," promised Abdel Jalil, chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC).

"Above all we do not wish to continue to be isolated in the world as we have been up to now," he added in comments published in the Italian La Repubblica daily.

It is unclear what the exact nature of the Libya's future consitution - and exact government structure - will be as the public expects a referrendum to be held to decide the matter.

The whereabouts of fugitive Libyan strongman Muammar remained unknown Wednesday as the rebels overran his Tripoli compound.

Jalil said the mass of opinion within the NTC was that Qaddafi and his minions should eventually be judged "in a fair trial, but it must take place in Libya."

For that to happen "we need to take them alive and treat them differently from the way the colonel treated his adversaries. He will stay in the memory only for the crimes, the arrests and the political assassinations he carried out."

But Jalil's characterization of the rebel leadership's enlightenment and Qaddafi's future trial seems dissonant in light of the two-million dinar (USD 1.67 million) dead or alive bounty he announced for the former leader earlier in the day.

Jalil also offered carte blanch amnesty to any member of Qaddafi's entourage who kills the former leader, or hands him over to the rebel leadership.